TR Circular E-C058_9th LRT Conference_2003.pdf - Florida ...

Bottoms 727
South Tagus LRT
The Portuguese government is funding the construction of a light rail system to serve the
communities located on the south bank (Setúbal peninsula) of the Tagus river (opposite the
capital city of Lisbon). Dubbed the Metro Transportes do Sul, the system will ultimately grow to
an ambitious 27.5-km (16.5-mi) network linking Almada, Seixal, and Barreiro but the initial
phase consists of a 12-km (7.2-mi) segment. This initial phase will also include connections with
the cross-Tagus rail link to Lisbon as well as to commuter ferries. A consortium of Siemens and
local Portuguese partners has won the contract that will ultimately total €397.5 million
(US$347.8 million or US$21.1 million/mi) at full buildout. A total of 24 Siemens Combino lowfloor
light rail vehicles have been ordered for the first phase. The first phase is projected to open
in late 2005.
CONCLUSION
The trend of constructing new light rail systems in medium-sized and small cities in Western
Europe has become progressively stronger since the first trailblazer system was opened in
Nantes, France, in 1985. Significantly, the trend has not been confined to cities under 500,000 as
London, Paris, and Barcelona are pursuing ambitious light rail programs in their respective cities.
It should also be noted that firms in Western Europe have acquired a large body of knowledge
and experience in successfully implementing light rail. This has been applied to subsequent
projects but has not precluded innovations as the tram-train concept forges ahead and Bordeaux’s
new system will employ a unique system the obviates overhead wires. It, of course, remains to
be seen if light rail will continue at the same pace through the rest of this decade. The trend may
slow, if for no other reason than many of the most promising locations have now implemented or
chosen light rail or a competing intermediate mode (various forms of guided bus, etc.). Unlike
the United States, financing does not represent as formidable a barrier to implementation of
major projects. The United Kingdom has employed a PPP financing mechanism grounded in
legislation to transfer some portion of the risk of projects to the private sector. While this has
resulted in some problems on the financial side for projects such as Croydon in the United
Kingdom, other projects (Nottingham, for example) have learned from this experience and
structured contracts to better reflect project financial realities and achieve a more realistic
distribution of risk. Financing in France is reflective of that country’s inclusive multimodal
approach to finding long-term solutions to current mobility, congestion, air pollution, and land
use disfunctionalities. Substantial national government financing is available and localities have
a number of financing alternatives from which to choose. National, provincial, and localities are
expected to contribute to the project, consistent with the benefits received. Similar circumstances
exist in Italy (still benefiting from the special legislation passed in 1992 to better balance the
funding mix for transit-based solutions) and Spain. In Spain, the devolution of political power to
the regions (Basque, Andalusia, Catalunya) has resulted in a shift favoring transit as the decisionmaking
level has been moved closer to the Spanish people and is more reflective of their
opinions. It is clear that all of the countries surveyed recognize the long-term benefits of
enhancing the transit infrastructure and uniformly exhibit the political will to deploy the
necessary resources to capture those benefits.